Music Head Wrote:online listen
expectations way too high for this one
too in love with those Squeezing Out Sparks days
only liked 2 tracks and 4 that sucked
title track is one of the 2 and is the clip
1.4 from me and a converted 2.4 from the pros at allmusic

from the album - Three Chords Good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAbHmaycCj4

released Nov 20th, 2012



Bio - from allmusic

Stereotyped early in his career as the quintessential angry young man, Graham Parker was one of the most
successful singer/songwriters to emerge from England's pub rock scene of the early '70s. Drawing heavily
from Van Morrison and the Rolling Stones, Parker developed a sinewy fusion of driving rock & roll and
confessional folk-rock, highlighted by his indignant passion, biting sarcasm, and bristling anger. At the
outset of his career, his albums crackled with pub rock energy, snide witticisms, and gentle insights,
earning him a devoted following of fans and critics, who lavished praise on his debut, Howlin' Wind.
Despite all of the positive word of mouth, Parker never managed to become a star, and he was soon
overshadowed by the emergence of Elvis Costello, a singer/songwriter who shared similar roots. After
delivering Squeezing Out Sparks in 1979, Parker attempted to make a few crossover albums before settling
into a cult following in the late '80s, continuing to garner critical acclaim.

After spending much of his early adulthood working odd jobs, ranging from breeding mice and guinea pigs to
working at a gas station, Parker began seriously pursuing a musical career in 1975. Until that time, he
had played in a number of obscure pub rock groups, including a cover band that had spent time playing in
Morocco and Gibraltar. But it wasn't until 1975 that he began shopping his demos. That year, Dave
Robinson, one of the co-founders of the new independent label Stiff, heard one of Parker's demo tapes and
encouraged the songwriter, helping him assemble a backing band called the Rumour. Robinson rounded up
several stars of the pub rock scene -- guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and keyboardist Bob Andrews, both
formerly of the leading pub rockers Brinsley Schwarz, former Ducks Deluxe guitarist Martin Belmont, former
Bontemps Roulez drummer Steve Goulding, and bassist Andrew Bodnar -- to form the Rumour, and the band was
soon supporting Parker on the dying pub rock scene. With the assistance of DJ Charlie Gillett, the group
landed a record contract with Mercury by the end of 1975.

Graham Parker & the Rumour headed into the studio to cut their debut album with producer Nick Lowe, who
gave the resulting record, Howlin' Wind, an appealingly ragged edge. Howlin' Wind was greeted with
enthusiastic reviews upon its summer release, as was the similar Heat Treatment, which followed in the
fall. Despite the positive press, Parker was growing frustrated with Mercury, believing that the company
was not properly promoting and distributing his records. His third album, Stick to Me, had to be re-
recorded quickly after the original tapes were discovered to be defective prior to its scheduled release.
As a result, Stick to Me received mixed reviews upon its fall 1977 release, which derailed Parker's
momentum slightly. Furthermore, Elvis Costello, a fellow pub rock survivor who possessed not only a more
pop-oriented style of songwriting, but also a more dangerous persona, soon eclipsed Parker in popularity.
Frustrated by his career hitting a standstill, Parker released the live-double album The Parkerilla in the
summer of 1978 in order to get out of his contract. Following a short but intense bidding war, he quickly
signed to Arista Records, where he released "Mercury Poisoning" -- a blistering attack on his former
record label -- as the B-side of a promotional single as his first record for the label.

Squeezing Out Sparks, Parker's first album for Arista, put a halt to that decline. Sporting a slicker, new
wave-oriented production -- it was the first of his records not to have any involvement from Nick Lowe --
the album was greeted with terrific reviews and, on the strengths of radio hits like "Local Girls," it
became his most successful album, reaching number 40 on the American charts and selling over 200,000
copies. Parker was poised for a major breakthrough, but that didn't happen. He followed Squeezing Out
Sparks in 1980 with the Jimmy Iovine-produced The Up Escalator, which was considerably slicker than its
predecessor. The Up Escalator didn't sell, and Parker decided to ditch the Rumour, who had already begun a
solo career. For 1982's Another Grey Area, he hired producer Jack Douglas and a team of session musicians,
resulting in a radio-ready production that received mixed reviews, yet managed to peak at number 51. The
Real Macaw, which followed in 1983, suffered a similar fate. For 1985's Steady Nerves, Parker moved to
Elektra Records and formed a backing band called the Shot with guitarist Brinsley Schwarz, who helped him
deliver his most radio-ready collection. This time, the pop move paid off. "Wake Up (Next to You)" became
his only Top 40 hit, and the album stayed on the charts for nearly as long as Squeezing Out Sparks.

Despite his moderate commercial success with Steady Nerves, the album wasn't widely praised, and he also
ran into trouble with Elektra, leaving the label after just one record. He briefly moved to Atlantic,
which dropped him without releasing a single record. Consequently, Parker wasn't able to deliver another
album until 1988, when he signed with RCA and released The Mona Lisa's Sister in the spring. Hailed as a
comeback by several critics upon its release, the album generated a college radio hit with "Get Started
(Start a Fire)" and spent 19 weeks on the charts. Instead of being the beginning of a comeback, the album
turned out to be a last gasp: it was the last time Parker was able to crack the Top 100. Live! Alone in
America (1989) received positive reviews but was ignored, and 1990's mild worldbeat experiment Human Soul
received mixed reviews and peaked at number 165 on the charts. Parker's final album for RCA -- and his
last album to chart -- was the stripped-down Struck By Lightning (1991), and while it was critically
praised, it didn't find an audience outside of his cult. The following year, he switched to Capitol and
released Burning Questions, which was ignored.

Following the release of 1993's double-disc anthology Passion Is No Ordinary Word, Parker made the leap to
independent labels -- he had spent time at all but one of the major labels (Columbia/Sony) with little
success. In 1994, he released the Christmas Cracker EP on Dakota Arts, and then he signed with Razor &
Tie, where he released 12 Haunted Episodes in the spring. Like The Mona Lisa's Sister and Struck By
Lightning before it, 12 Haunted Episodes was hailed as a comeback, and it sold in respectable numbers for
an indie release. Parker followed it with two albums in 1996, Live from New York, NY and Acid Bubblegum,
which appeared within two months of each other late in the summer. Early in 1997, he released yet another
live album, the double-disc The Last Rock N Roll Tour, which was recorded with the power pop quartet the
Figgs. Parker continued to issue a steady stream of archive and live releases into the mid-2000s, and
moved into singer/songwriter mode for the albums Deepcut to Nowhere and Your Country, the latter a roots
rock-influenced affair released by the Chicago-based Bloodshot Records. the Figgs were back for 2005's
Songs of No Consequence, an album that Parker declared "rocks like safari park chimp" in pre-release
publicity. Unreleased material, rare edits, and remixes were featured on Official Art Vandelay Tapes, Vol.
2, which appeared two weeks after Songs of No Consequence. Don't Tell Columbus arrived in March 2007. The
clever Imaginary Television appeared in 2010, along with the DVD Live at the FTC.

Parker unexpectedly reunited his original backing band the Rumour in 2011, recording a new album that
became 2012's Three Chords Good. The reunion album appeared in November 2012, around the same time Judd
Apatow's This Is Forty -- a movie where Graham Parker & the Rumour provide a plot point -- hit the
theaters, thereby pushing the singer/songwriter into the mainstream spotlight for the first time in years.

Album Review - from allmusic

It is not as if Graham Parker never found another sympathetic backing band after he parted ways with the
Rumour in 1980. Notably, he joined forces with the power pop band the Figgs in the mid-'90s, having them
as his supporting group for over a decade, a far longer stretch of time than he played with the Rumour,
but there was no shaking the ghost of his original band, the one who supported him on the classics Howlin'
Wind and Squeezing Out Sparks. Whatever lingering grievances between bandmates were forgotten and forgiven
and Parker reunited with the Rumour for 2012's Three Chords Good, its release coinciding with their
pivotal appearance in Judd Apatow's This Is 40. Thirty-two years have passed since Parker & the Rumour
recorded together, and the vibe on Three Chords Good is decidedly different than either the semi-stiff
attempted 1980 crossover The Up Escalator or its lacerating 1979 predecessor Squeezing Out Sparks. Parker
is no longer an angry young man, he's a grizzled old curmudgeon with a sentimental streak, a decidedly
warmer persona and one that suits the Rumour's revived pub rock. Often, Three Chords Good hearkens back to
the relaxed, almost casual, vibe of Howlin' Wind, where the group slyly spliced the Stones with Van
Morrison. Here, the Stones are largely absent, replaced by hints of Dylan ("Arlington's Busy") and an off
-hand virtuosity that finds the Rumour slipping into reggae ("Snake Oil Capital of the World") as easily
as they do supper-club jazz ("Live in Shadows"). Apart from the first single "Coathangers," there isn't
much straight-ahead rock & roll here; the music shuffles along in an unhurried gait, leaving plenty of
time for the Rumour to lock into a slow, soulful groove, for Martin Belmont to throw out clean, enticing
lead lines and for Parker to play around with his barbed words. Perhaps not surprisingly for a reunion,
Parker is in a reflective frame of mind -- he opens the album noting that it's been a "Long Emotional
Ride" and closes it with "Last Bookstore in Town, and in between he alternates between reminiscences and
resigned shrugs at the state of the world today -- and the expert elastic roots rock of the Rumour gives
his songs depth, making Three Chords Good the rare reunion that simultaneously looks back while living in
the present.

Track Listing

1. Snake Oil Capital Of The World
2. Long Emotional Ride
3. Stop Cryin' About The Rain
4. She Rocks Me
5. Three Chords Good
6. Old Soul
7. A Lie That Gets Halfway Round
8. That Moon Was Low
9. Live In Shadows
10. Arlington's Busy
11. Coathangers
12. Last Bookstore In Town